


Carnation

by CaptainSophieStark



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:15:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26647357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainSophieStark/pseuds/CaptainSophieStark
Summary: Peggy and Daniel finally get to go on a family vacation with their kids, away from all the danger and craziness of the SSR. They don't even make it one full day without an unexpected surprise. Peggysous week day six! Only one more to go after this!White/Pink Carnation Meaning: pure love, a mother's love
Relationships: Peggy Carter & Daniel Sousa & Jack Thompson, Peggy Carter/Daniel Sousa
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16





	Carnation

"Are you two excited?"

"YES!!!!!"

Peggy smiled fondly at her energetic kids, who were practically bouncing off the walls with excitement about their family vacation to Hawaii. She and Daniel decided they needed some time away from work and all the responsibilities of the SSR, and especially all the danger that came with it. What better break than a family trip to Hawaii?

Daniel and Peggy had two little ones, a girl and a boy. Michael, the oldest, was ten, and Charlotte was seven. They had almost boundless energy, and both of their parents were secretly hoping Hawaii might offer some magic that could actually tire out both their kids at the same time.

"Alright, then let's put the finishing touching on packing so we'll be all ready to go when Dad gets home," Peggy said, trying to corral the kids into helping her put the finishing touches on their items in the suitcase. Peggy had gone into work early while Daniel took the kids to school so that she could finish in time to pick the kids up and get everyone packed. It wasn't easy, balancing jobs as government agents with being full-time parents to two young children, but they made it work pretty well.

Michael and Charlotte continued to bounce around the house, helping their mother occasionally but mostly just filling the air with excitement. Finally, the packing was finished and Daniel was home. It was time to board a plane to Maui.

As Peggy checked their bags and walked hand in hand with Charlotte and Michael, she could feel years of stress and several months of active cases melting away. She turned to smile at her husband, and she could tell he felt the same way. They were walking through an airport on their way to a tropical paradise, all the while tied together with the three people who mattered most in the world.

It was rare that the Carter-Sousa family got to take a true vacation, so they'd decided to go all out on this trip, including first class plane tickets. Michael and Charlotte eagerly chose the window seats, leaving Peggy and Daniel on the aisles to pass food and coloring books for the kids between them. It was going to be a long flight, and they were hoping to keep Michael and Charlotte as entertained as they could.

The flight attendants helped too, making sure to swing by and check on the adorable family in first class. They brought the kids plenty of juice and often stayed to talk to them for a little bit before rushing off again.

Finally, the plane touched down in Hawaii. The kids were bouncing up and down in their seats, excited to be the first ones off the plane. Their parents and the other passengers indulged them, smiling as Charlotte and Michael led the way out the door and into the unfamiliar airport.

Their vacation had officially begun.

The humidity hit the family like a truck with the warm Hawaiian breeze as soon as they were off the plane, but it felt good. Peggy and Daniel had decided to rent a convertible, which wasn't exactly the most practical car luggage-wise, but damn was it fun with the kids waving their hands around in the backseat, identical grins stretched across their faces.

They checked into the hotel before noon, dropped all their bags, changed into swimsuits, and immediately headed to the beach.

"Mommy! Let's go find a turtle!" Michael yelled, grabbing his mom's hand and charging into the ocean as fast as his little legs would carry him. Peggy did her best to keep up, shooting one last glance over her shoulder at Daniel (staying back with Charlotte, their more reserved child) before storming into the waves of the Pacific.

"Finally!" Peggy yelled, smiling as she splashed water at Michael and he fully attacked her in retaliation. Michael ran and tackled her as well as he could (he was still much smaller than his mother), and Peggy fell backwards into the water with him. They popped up after a minute, both smiling as Michael cackled like a maniac.

"I love Hawaii!" he yelled, splashing wildly with his arms.

"I'm glad!" Peggy laughed, smiling at her energetic little boy. He was named after her brother, and he had the same manic energy she and the first Michael had had when they were children.

"Dad! Come sit in the water with us!" yelled Michael, waving frantically at where his father and sister had just finished setting up towels.

"Just a second, bud! I'm on my way!"

Michael waited about two seconds, then he raced out of the surf to go speed his dad and sister along. The soft sand was making it a little harder for Daniel to get around, since his crutch sank far lower than it did on pavement, and having an energetic ten year old bouncing around and trying to drag him around by his free hand didn't help. Daniel seemed to find it funny though, as much as he had to concentrate to keep his balance, and he was laughing as he made his way to the edge of the surf.

Peggy grinned at her husband as he eased himself onto the sand, sitting just close enough to the waves that they could wash over him without totally swamping him.

"Finally! Charlotte, come on!" yelled Michael, tearing into the water again with his sister in tow. Peggy waded back towards her husband, plopping down in the sand next to him to watch their energetic children.

"They're somethin' else, aren't they?" asked Daniel, exhausted but smiling as his kids swam and yelled and splashed in the ocean.

"They certainly keep us on our toes," said Peggy fondly. She and Daniel just sat for a minute, smiling and watching their kids and feeling safe for the first time in a long time. Usually they were constantly looking over their shoulders, unable to truly relax. Now, they were finally getting a break from everything.

Everything but the insane energy levels of their kids, that is.

After Michael and Charlotte splashed around in the deeper water for a while, they came back to shore to splash around with their parents. They spent a little over an hour in the water, then moved up the shore to dry off and relax. Daniel and the kids started working on a sand castle while Peggy kicked back with a book.

"Mommy, look! We made a turret!" Charlotte said happily, gesturing to the rough but well built sandcastle with pride. It really did look good, and even Daniel seemed proud of their accomplishment.

"That looks amazing!" said Peggy, setting down her book and walking over for a closer examination of the structure. "You three did a very nice job."

"Thanks mom!"

"Yeah, thanks," agreed Daniel. He threw out a hand and Peggy helped pull him to his feet. "The real architectural geniuses were these two."

"I believe it," said Peggy, smiling at her kids as they swelled with pride. The sun was starting to get lower in the sky, although sunset was still a few hours off, and after a full day of travel and running and playing at the beach, the whole family was starting to get hungry. "Now, what do you say we go find a good place to eat?"

Both the kids agreed eagerly, and they took a few minutes to pack up their beach stuff before heading off in search of a restaurant. The sand castle stood tall and proud as they walked away, a monument to the first real day of vacation Peggy and Daniel had had in years.

None of them wanted to stray very far from the beach now that they'd finally arrived, so they found a nice restaurant not more than a hundred yards from the water. In the spirit of their ocean island vacation, they all had fish for dinner, then shared an absolutely delicious coconut pie. They sat at their outdoor table and watched the sun sink into the ocean as it painted the sky beautiful hues of orange and red, then stood to take one last walk along the beach before heading to bed.

"I'm gettin' pretty good at this," said Daniel, cracking a smile and glancing down at the holes his crutch was leaving in the sand as he and Peggy walked hand in hand. The kids were running up ahead of their parents, jumping in and out of the path of the waves as they hit the shore.

"You've never met a challenge you couldn't handle," Peggy agreed, giving her husband's hand a loving squeeze. The two continued on in silence for a little while, watching their kids jump and run around the beach. "I'm so happy we made it here."

"So am I. I didn't realize just how badly I needed a break from the SSR until we took one."

"Same here. It's nice to be here as a family, without worrying about anything else."

"And look! I think the kids might actually be tired for the first time since we had 'em." Daniel cracked a smile as he and Peggy looked to where their kids had been running along just moments before. Now, they were plopped down in the sand, sitting and watching the waves while they waited for their parents to catch up.

"It's a miracle," joked Peggy, leaning into Daniel to nudge his shoulder with hers.

They caught up to their kids, who looked up at them from their spots in the sand.

"Is it time for bed now?" asked Charlotte as her brother absentmindedly played with the sand.

"Yeah, it is," said Daniel with a kind smile. "Honestly, I'm pretty beat too. Let's get back to the hotel and get some rest, and then we can come back out tomorrow morning."

Neither of the kids could muster more than sleepy nods as they pushed themselves up off the sand. Peggy and Daniel stopped holding each other's hands to take Michael's and Charlotte's instead, then started the trek back up from the beach to the hotel.

They came through the front doors exhausted but smiling. They waved to the front desk staff and headed for the elevator, and the last stretch of hallway before they got to their room seemed suddenly twice as long as it had been earlier.

"Alright, wash the sand off in the tub as best you can and then straight to bed," said Daniel, opening the door and letting his kids go through first. They nodded sleepily, but when their parents got into the room after them they found the kids suddenly wide awake and jumping around with excitement. "What...?"

"UNCLE JACK!" the two yelled, jumping up and down in front of the couch. Before Peggy and Daniel could fully process what they'd just heard, a man sat up and became visible from behind the couch. The two exhausted parents recognized the blonde hair and lanky build as soon as they saw him.

"Ah... hey kids," Thompson said, giving the kids a sleepy smile as he stretched. He was so focused on the kids, he completely missed the murderous looks on the faces of Peggy and Daniel right behind him.

"Thompson. What a surprise," said Daniel through gritted teeth. Thompson turned and gave Daniel and Peggy a lazy smile without a hint of remorse on his face.

"Hey Sousa, Carter. How was your beach day?"

"It was great," growled Daniel. If the kids weren't in the room, he probably would've smacked Thompson already.

"Kids, I think it's time we get you to bed," said Peggy, stepping in. "Your father and I need to have a talk with Uncle Jack."

"But mom, we don't want to go to bed!" cried Michael.

"We want to play with Uncle Jack!" Charlotte agreed. Peggy resisted the urge to glare daggers at Jack, instead giving her kids a kind and patient smile.

"You can play with Uncle Jack in the morning. Right now, we all need to get some sleep so we'll be rested enough to have fun tomorrow."

The kids were disappointed, but with Jack backing up Peggy they agreed to go to bed. Peggy and Daniel took them into the adjoining room to tuck them in (Daniel shooting a glare over his shoulder at Thompson as they went), and then came back into the living room to deal with their vacation-crasher.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here?" demanded Daniel, fighting to keep his voice quiet. He glared at Thompson as Peggy watched with her arms crossed. His answer needed to be good.

"Right now? Trying to wake up from the most-needed nap in history," he said. Daniel took a deep breath to chew him out, but Peggy beat her husband to it.

"Jack Thompson you better explain why on earth you've decided to crash our family vacation right now, and you better have a damn good answer if you want to see the light of day again."

"Fine, fine," said Jack, raising his hands in surrender. "I've been following the two of you since you left the office, keeping enemies off your trail. The minute you left, your guards dropped, which is the stupidest move I've ever seen the two of you make by a mile. I ran interference to make sure nobody got further than New York in tailing you, and by the time I was done, I was tired and in Hawaii. So I took a nap on your couch."

Peggy and Daniel were silent for at least a minute after Thompson's explanation. Neither of them had been expecting that answer. Finally, they sighed heavily and spoke up again.

"Thank you, Jack. We appreciate it," said Peggy. Jack nodded, leaning back on the couch and spreading out. Peggy turned to Daniel. "Are you thinking the same thing I am?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

Peggy gave her husband a small smile, then turned back to Jack. "Thompson, you're welcome to stay with us for the rest of our vacation if you'd like to."

"Of course, you're more than welcome to go back to New York too, if you want to," said Daniel. He smiled as he said it though, and Thompson mirrored his expression.

"What about your family vacation?" asked Thompson, still a little hesitant to agree. As much fun as he was having already, he didn't really want to outstay his welcome.

"Ah, come on Jack. You heard the kids. As much as I hate to say it... you're family." Daniel stood as he said it, heading for the bedroom without looking back. A grin started to spread on Thompson's face, but he quickly pushed it down as Peggy patted his knee and went to join her husband.

"You're staying on the couch," she whispered as a parting remark, giving Thompson one more playful glare before following her husband into the bedroom and leaving Thompson to himself. It wasn't the family vacation they'd planned, but secretly, Peggy and Daniel weren't too disappointed.

Michael and Charlotte felt like they'd won the lottery.


End file.
